The Library
1780 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
601–700
13 works
recited c. 610–632; standard text c. 650
Arabic
Recited by Muhammad; collected under Uthman · Muhammad, c. 570 – 632
The scripture of Islam, and unavoidably a book about Christians. Jesus is born of a virgin, works miracles, is the Messiah and a word from God, and is not the son of God; Mary has a sura to herself and is named more often than in the New Testament; the Trinity is rejected, and the crucifixion is denied with the words it only appeared so to them.
25 December 634
Greek
Sophronius of Jerusalem · c. 560 – 638
The patriarch of Jerusalem explains to his congregation why they cannot go the five miles to Bethlehem this year: the Saracens are on the road, and the sword of the godless is at the throat of the city. He tells them their sins are the cause and that repentance is the defence.
c. 634–640
Greek
Doctrina Jacobi Nuper Baptizati
Anonymous
A dialogue among Jews forcibly baptised at Carthage, arguing about the messiah, and reporting in passing a prophet arisen among the Saracens.
c. 630–658
Syriac
Isho'yahb III · d. 659
The correspondence of a patriarch governing his church through the Arab conquest, including complaints that Christians in Oman were abandoning the faith over a tax.
c. 660–680
Syriac
Anonymous
A short Syriac chronicle covering the end of the Sasanian empire and the Arab conquest, written by a Christian in what is now south-western Iran.
c. 661
Armenian
Attributed to Sebeos · 7th century
A history of Armenia between the Persian and Roman empires, ending with the Arab conquests and an early outside account of the preaching of Muhammad.
c. 664; survives in fragments
Syriac
Anonymous
A short Syriac chronicle recording, among other things, a debate held before Mu'awiya between Jacobites and Maronites, the caliph's judgement and the fine imposed on the losers, and his prayer at Golgotha and Gethsemane after taking power at Jerusalem.
c. 687
Syriac
Ktaba d-rish melle
John bar Penkaye · 7th century
A world history in fifteen books whose last section covers the author's own lifetime — the Arab conquests, a civil war among the conquerors, and a plague.
c. 680–700
Greek
Anastasius of Sinai · d. after 700
Real questions from ordinary Christians under Arab rule, answered plainly: whether a Christian forced to convert can be received back, whether it is lawful to swear by God to a Saracen, why God allows the nations to rule, whether dreams mean anything, and what happens to the soul at death.
c. 685–695
Coptic
Anonymous
Athanasius is made to foretell the writer's own century: a nation of the desert ruling Egypt, a census and a poll tax, Christians apostatising to escape it, clergy buying office, and monks abandoning their cells — followed by a persecution and then deliverance.
c. 690
Coptic
John of Nikiu · 7th century
A world chronicle by a Coptic bishop whose closing books describe the Arab conquest of Egypt from the point of view of the conquered population.
c. 690–692
Syriac
Anonymous
A prophecy written under the name of a fourth-century martyr, explaining the Arab conquest as a divinely permitted scourge and foretelling a Last Roman Emperor who will surrender his crown at Jerusalem.
c. 680–708
Syriac
Jacob of Edessa · c. 640 – 708
Rulings sent to priests who wrote in with problems: whether a priest may give the eucharist to a Muslim or a Jew who asks, what to do about Christians who consult Muslim diviners, whether an Arab convert must be rebaptised, and how to compute Easter.
701–800
10 works
c. 720–730
Syriac
Anonymous
A conversation between a monk and an Arab notable staying at his monastery, ranging over the cross, images, and why Christians do not pray toward a single direction.
c. 743
Greek
Pege Gnoseos
John of Damascus · c. 675–749
Three parts — philosophical definitions, a catalogue of a hundred heresies, and the exposition of the orthodox faith — assembled as one complete course of instruction.
c. 7th–8th century; date disputed
Aramaic
Anonymous
An Aramaic Torah that translates and rewrites at once, filling every gap: Cain and Abel argue theology before the murder, the names of Ishmael's wives are given, and a passage on Muhammad's wife and daughter dates the text after the conquests.
c. 755–770
Arabic
Anonymous
A defence of the Trinity and the incarnation for a Muslim readership, arguing from the Qur'an's own vocabulary as readily as from the Bible.
c. 767; surviving in Ibn Hisham's edition, c. 833
Arabic
Sirat Rasul Allah
Ibn Ishaq, in the recension of Ibn Hisham · c. 704 – 767
The earliest biography of Muhammad. Christians appear throughout: the monk Bahira who recognises the boy's prophethood, the Negus of Abyssinia who shelters the first emigrants and weeps at the recitation about Jesus and Mary, and the delegation from Najran who dispute the Trinity with him.
c. 782–783
Syriac
Timothy I · c. 728–823
A patriarch's own record of two days of courteous questioning by the caliph on the Trinity, the crucifixion, and whether the gospels foretold Muhammad.
c. 750–800
Hebrew
Anonymous
A retelling of Genesis and Exodus as continuous narrative rather than verse-by-verse comment, full of material found nowhere earlier: the ten trials of Abraham, Samael riding the serpent, the sun and moon quarrelling, and Ishmael's descendants as a kingdom of the writer's own day.
c. 792
Syriac
Ktaba d-eskoliyon
Theodore bar Koni · 8th century
Questions and answers on the whole Bible, closing with an account of the religions and sects of Mesopotamia, including Manichaeans, Marcionites, and Muslims.
c. 800–820
Arabic
Theodore Abu Qurrah · c. 755 – c. 830
A man comes down from a mountain knowing nothing and finds nine religions each claiming to be true. Abu Qurrah works through them by asking which account of God matches what a physician would prescribe for a sick creation, and argues his way to the incarnation.
c. 800–815
Arabic
Theodore Abu Qurrah · c. 750–c. 830
A defence of images written in Arabic for Christians who had stopped venerating them under Muslim and Jewish criticism, arguing the case on grounds a Muslim could follow.
801–900
10 works
c. 810–814
Greek
Chronographia
Theophanes the Confessor · c. 758–818
A year-by-year chronicle from 284 to 813, drawing on sources now lost and covering the Arab conquests and the first iconoclasm at length.
9th century; date disputed
Arabic
Anonymous
A pair of letters, one inviting a Christian to Islam and the other declining at length, criticising the Qur'an's composition and Muhammad's career directly.
c. 815–835
Arabic
Abu Ra'ita al-Takriti · c. 775 – c. 835
A Syriac Orthodox layman defending the Trinity and the incarnation in the vocabulary of Muslim theology, arguing that God's attributes of knowledge and life are what Christians call Word and Spirit, and explaining why the church venerates the cross.
c. 830–850
Arabic
Ammar al-Basri · 9th century
A defence of Christian doctrine framed as a test for distinguishing a true religion from a false one, arguing that Christianity spread without the sword, money, or tribal advantage.
854
Latin
Paulus Albarus · c. 800–861
A defence of the Córdoba martyrs that breaks off to lament that young Christians now read Arabic poetry with delight and can barely write a decent Latin letter.
c. 851–856
Latin
Memoriale Sanctorum
Eulogius of Córdoba · c. 800–859
An account of the Christians of Córdoba who sought execution by denouncing Muhammad publicly, defended by the author against fellow Christians who thought them suicides.
c. 856–870
Syriac
Nonnus of Nisibis · 9th century
A defence of Christian doctrine written in Armenia against both Muslim objections and rival Christian christologies, by a scholar imprisoned in Baghdad.
c. 860–873
Arabic
Hunayn ibn Ishaq · 808 – 873
The caliph's chief translator sets out six reasons people adopt a religion — force, wealth, tribal loyalty, a persuasive orator, permission to indulge, and evidence — and argues that Christianity spread with none of the first five going for it.
c. 9th century
Syriac and Arabic
Anonymous
The monk who recognised the boy Muhammad, retold from the Christian side: here he is a Christian ascetic who taught the Arab prophet what he knew, saw his teaching corrupted after his death, and foretold the whole history of Islamic rule before dying.
begun c. 890, compiled later
Arabic
Anonymous
Serial biographies of the Coptic patriarchs, drawn from earlier Coptic sources and continued for centuries, recording church life under successive Muslim rulers.
901–1000
4 works
c. 900–925
Armenian
Tovma Artsruni
An Armenian noble house chronicled from Adam to the writer's own day under Arab rule, with an eyewitness account of the invasions, the sieges, and the building of the church of the Holy Cross at Aghtamar, described stone by stone.
c. 930–940
Arabic
Nazm al-Jawhar
Eutychius of Alexandria · 877–940
A world history from creation to the author's own day by a physician who became patriarch of Alexandria, covering both Christian and Islamic history.
c. 978–984
Latin
John of Saint-Arnoul · 10th century
The life of a monastic reformer, including his long embassy to the caliph at Córdoba, where he was warned that repeating his message would cost him his head.
987
Arabic
Al-Fihrist
Ibn al-Nadim · d. c. 995
A Baghdad bookseller's index of every book he knew to exist in Arabic, with notes on the authors. It covers scriptures and sects at length — Christians, Jews, Sabians, Manichaeans — and lists the titles of Mani's own writings one by one.
1001–1100
1 work
1026–1027
Arabic
Kitab al-Majalis
Elias of Nisibis · 975–1046
The record of seven courteous conversations with a Muslim vizier on the Trinity, the unity of God, and the merits of Syriac and Arabic as languages of learning.
1101–1200
3 works
1143
Latin
Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete
Robert of Ketton · 12th century
The first translation of the Qur'an into any European language, made in Spain for the abbot of Cluny as part of a whole dossier on Islam.
c. 1155–1156
Latin
Peter the Venerable · c. 1092–1156
A refutation of Islam addressed, unusually, to Muslims themselves, arguing that they should be approached with reasons rather than arms.
1–40 of 48 matching · 1780 in the Library